Home renovation: How to live the resort life, at home this summer

Be ambitious when it comes to your dream holiday this Christmas break.

Travel is delightful, but build right and you can live the resort life seven days a week, says the team at Three Birds

Acreage living never looked so good.

‘Cancel your plane tickets, we’re bringing the holiday to you!’

That’s the message this house is sending, and it’s impossible to resist.

The brief for this new build – our most ambitious one yet – was to create a family home that was functional for daily life but also felt like being on a dream holiday.

And if this sprawling home doesn’t say ‘idyllic island getaway’, we don’t know what does. With its grand entrance, tall palms, high ceilings, textural touches and sparkling pool, this house has luxury resort moments on tap.

Staycation style.

Inside, we took a more eclectic approach than we usually do, mixing styles to give rooms their own personalities, but weaving the same colour palette throughout. Modern and traditional touches live side-by-side, masculine and feminine styling complement each other, and minimalist rooms live happily down the hall from maximalist ones.

But, at the end of the day, these rooms are all anchored by one thing: views of that iconic Aussie bush. Like a living piece of art that can be seen from almost every window in the house, it connects the spaces to each other, and to the paradise outside.

Modern and traditional touches live side-by-side.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOME A RESORT

If you want a coastal holiday vibe for the exterior of your home but you don’t want to use super-popular weatherboard cladding, then you should consider the board-and-batten look we’ve used here.

As the name suggests, it simply comprises large, flat sheets of cladding with vertical trims on top.

The battens create stylish detailing.

Give yourself room to move

A gorgeous table is a great way to anchor a large entryway

Just make sure you can walk around it comfortably. And keep the styling simple and pretty. If it’s likely to become a collecting spot for keys, wallets and sunnies, find a large vessel such as a clamshell to contain all of those bits and bobs in a beautiful way.

The pool is at the centre of summer.

A social space.

Seamless indoor/outdoor flow.

Resort feels.

Social by the pool

Different levels and ledges in a pool will make it a sociable space for swimmers and loungers too. The pool has steps at one end and a long ledge that runs along the side. Parents can sit at the top and enjoy a cheeky martini, or lounge along the ledge while the kids splash about. Have pool entertaining in mind? Ledges are a great option.

Glass and gold go together

Fluted glass cabinetry with gold handles brings beautiful detail and a luxurious touch to any room.

Gold and glass.

Also, if you can get some natural light into your butler’s pantry, then it will make a huge difference to how you feel in the space.

Perhaps a large window?

If you can see a palm tree through that window, then that’s even better.

Flow into the outdoors

If you happen to have a wide house rather than a tall house (perhaps it’s single level), then look for an opportunity to include a back porch or deck that runs the full width of the house.

You might also like to consider adding doors to each room so that they can open up on to the porch to maximise the feeling of indoor/outdoor living.

Reimagine a classic

Chequerboard reimagined.

Chequerboard floors have been making bold statements in entryways for thousands of years (seriously, we checked). By swapping out the traditional black and white tiles for a blush pink and white combo, we softened the strong pattern and made it subtler.

Turf for a tropical look

If a holiday vibe is all over your vision board, then a simple and cost-effective way to landscape your garden, especially when tackling a big section, is to turf as much as possible. Grass looks great, has a massive impact and doesn’t cost as much as garden beds and planting.

Tropical feel.

Also, when we close our eyes and think ‘holiday’, we see green palms swaying in the breeze, emerald jungles and lush trailing plants. For that reason, large potted palms were a must-have item in our budget.

We went for tropical plants such as Bangalow, cycad and raffia palms.

Because we preferred to have established plants, we had to save a lot of our budget for big plants and big pots. But it was so worth it.

More: Three Birds Renovations

Originally published as Home renovation: How to live the resort life, at home this summer